


Express Delivery

by DarkMasterofCupcakes



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: About 2 years or so after Cabbage Patch, And Sea Hawk is a concerned boyfriend, And a proud papa, Both nongraphic but just to be safe, Breastfeeding, Childbirth, F/M, Fan Kid, Mermista is kinda stubborn, Next Generation, Proud Papa Sea Hawk, Really stubborn actually, Takes place in the same universe as my other stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 08:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18070007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkMasterofCupcakes/pseuds/DarkMasterofCupcakes
Summary: All Mermista wanted was a day to herself, just to relax without having to worry about anything. Unfortunately for her, it turned out that her baby had other plans.





	Express Delivery

She had been reluctant to come to Mystacor in the first place, but had reluctantly relented because even she had to admit that it would be safest for everyone involved if she and Sea Hawk to take refuge in the sanctuary-like home of sorcery for a few months. After almost eight months of never being left alone, however, she was starting to wonder if maybe the security this place provided hadn’t been entirely worth it. 

It had gotten especially irritating recently; Mermista could swear that she couldn’t go more than five minutes without someone checking up on her – and that wasn’t even counting her boyfriend who was almost constantly by her side. 

At least with Sea Hawk, she’d known him long enough that she’d learned how to deal with the way he could be, and even find it a little endearing at times – not that she’d ever tell him, or anyone else, that. But the people of Mystacor were another story entirely, and she was seriously done with the constant hovering. 

And she told them so the instant the first of the medics who called this place their home came into her room. 

“If you people do not leave me alone for the rest of the day, I swear I will literally murder you with my bare hands,” she practically growled, her eyes just barely opening as she gave a warning glare to the medic, who went even paler than she naturally was. 

The woman seemed to be at a loss for words for several moments, her mouth opening and closing several times without a single sounds actually coming out. After a few moments of this, she cleared her throat and finally spoke. 

“Your grace, I mean no disrespect, but I’m not entirely sure that would be the wisest decision, considering your condition,” she said, gesturing slightly to Mermista’s very swollen abdomen. 

Even if the princess of Salineas had her eyes closed, she would have known exactly what the older woman was referring to; after all, it wasn’t like it was hard to guess. 

Mermista let out a low groan as she lifted Sea Hawk’s arm from her body – thankfully his embrace had lessened during the night, so it didn’t take much effort to have him let go – and slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, the groan transitioning into a huff as she did so. 

“Okay, look,” she said, putting in a decent amount of effort to hide the fact that she was also putting in a lot of effort into trying to be reasonably polite. “You’ve told me about a thousand times that this kid’s not supposed to come for another week, right?” 

If the look on the head medic’s face was any indication, she knew where this conversation was going, but she nodded anyway. With that confirmation out of the way, Mermista continued: “And you literally just checked me yesterday – and nobody said anything about that changing.” 

“Well, no, you are correct about that, but –“ 

Mermista didn’t give her a chance to finish that sentence; she already knew what she was going to say, and she was most definitely not in the mood to listen to that right now. She held up her hand in a silent demand for the older woman to stop talking. 

Amazingly, the sorcerer took the request to heart and immediately shut her mouth, though the look in her eyes and the way her lips pursed together made it more than clear she wanted to say quite a bit more. 

“Look,” Mermista said as she put her hand down, “if you guys just leave me alone for like half a day today, I promise not to complain or anything about whatever you ask me to do between now and when I actually have this baby. How’s that sound?” 

“Princess…you have to understand that your due date is really just an estimate,” the head healer began, looking at the ruler of Salineas with an expression that showed she was begging to be listened to. “There is a very real possibility that you could deliver before that point…or potentially after, I must admit. There is no way to truly predict this sort of thing.” 

Mermista resisted the urge to roll her eyes or groan at this mini-lecture. Sure, she did have to admit that the healer did technically have a point about how there wasn’t really any way to know for sure when this baby was supposed to come. But, at the same time, that just made her all the more desperate to just have a day to herself; because she knew it’d be a lot harder to come across opportunities like that once she actually had the kid. 

Still, she tried her best to be patient with the older woman – she was just trying to do her job, after all, even if that involved her being almost as irritating as her boyfriend could be on occasion – minus the charm that Mermista had to reluctantly admit the pirate had. 

“How about this – you and the rest of the healers leave me alone for now, but _if_ ” she paused to see if the healer picked up on the way the word was stressed, only continuing when the other woman nodded, “If I think something serious is going on, I’ll send for you. Does that sound good to you?” 

The moment of silence that passed seemed like it lasted an eternity. Finally – and with an obvious degree of reluctance – the healer let out a sigh of defeat and nodded her head, the gesture so subtle that Mermista was sure the only reason she’d noticed it was because she had specifically been watching for said gesture. 

Muttering something to herself, the older woman turned and walked out of the room, thankfully closing the door behind her. 

As she left, Mermista let out a sigh of relief before smiling to herself. Finally she’d actually get a day to herself to just relax; something that she hadn’t really gotten a chance to do much since she’d been sent to Mystacor, which was ironic considering that was usually at least part of the reason anyone in the Rebellion came to visit the hidden sanctuary. 

Obviously no one had stopped her from taking advantage of the hot springs or the beaches or any of the other activities Mystacor offered…but it wasn’t exactly easy to relax with people who were basically total strangers hovering around pretty much constantly. But, now she had twelve hours to herself…

Well, almost to herself, she thought with a slight degree of exasperated fondness as she felt a hand wrap around her fingers and squeeze gently. 

“How long have you been up?” she questioned, not even bothering to look behind her. 

The answer came about a second after the inquiry had left her lips, the tone a little too energetic for the response given – then again, even she didn’t always know with Sea Hawk. 

“Just a moment or two,” he said, stretching himself while also maneuvering to sit on the edge of the bed beside her. The end result was that he briefly ended up looking a bit like a stretched out ragdoll, his legs dangling over the edge of the bed that was so huge that his toes barely touched the floor while the rest of him lay against the mattress, his arms laying up above his head. 

When he finished stretching and sat up, he turned to her with a smile; one that she swore nobody but him could possibly have mere moments after waking up, especially before ten in the morning. 

“I hear it’s just going to be the two of us for most of the day?” 

She didn’t respond right away. Not that she needed to – she already knew he knew the answer even without her saying a single word. When she did finally say something in response to his question, she raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a bemused expression. 

“I assume this means even threats against your life won’t be enough to get you to leave me alone today?” she asked, though her tone didn’t quite match the nature of her words. 

The expression on his face was all the answer she needed, and she sighed; not that she expected anything less from him, with how devoted he always seemed to be, even when she acted like she wanted nothing more than for him to go away. 

Mermista sighed, and was about to make some sort of comment in regards to this, but before she could open her mouth, she felt a sudden sharp pain cut through her. She did her best to not react to it, but couldn’t prevent her body from tensing up for the brief moment the pain hit. 

Unfortunately, based on the concerned look that now blanketed his face, it was all too clear that Sea Hawk had noticed her reaction, in spite of her efforts. 

“Are you okay?” he asked, placing a hand on her arm and rubbing gently. 

“It’s just a cramp,” she said, speaking as much to herself as to the captain. She took hold of his hand and pulled it off her arm, ignoring the look he was giving her, which made it pretty apparent that he wasn’t quite sure he believed her explanation. “Don’t make a big deal about it, okay?” 

She narrowed her eyes slightly, a silent warning that she was serious about that last demand. To his credit, he nodded in agreement, even though the look in his eyes made it abundantly clear that he was quite reluctant to do so. 

The princess of Salineas decided that was good enough and got out of bed; partly because she figured she may as well, now that she was already basically up anyway, and partly because she actually had to – apparently her unborn child was still under the impression that her bladder made an excellent pillow, much to Mermista’s discomfort. 

She took a moment to inform Sea Hawk of where she was going, before walking off to take care of the increasingly uncomfortable pressure inside of her. As she walked, she thought she might have felt another cramp – albeit not as strong as before – but she decided to ignore it; it was probably nothing, and there was no reason to worry herself (or Sea Hawk) over nothing. Not to mention she knew that if she gave the healers at Mystacor even the slightest hint that something was up with either her or the baby, there was absolutely zero chance they’d leave her alone, despite the earlier agreement. 

So she just used the washroom and returned to her room, where Sea Hawk was pulling on the jacket he’d discarded before going to sleep the previous night. 

“I’m going to get breakfast.” She waited for him to look at her before continuing. “Are you coming?” 

She knew his answer before he’d even opened his mouth – even if he hadn’t been hungry, she knew he would most likely want to accompany her. The only thing that kept her from complaining about it was because, given it was him, she knew it was just as likely just him wanting to spend time with her, rather than the result of any kind of paranoia related to her condition.

Mermista couldn’t help but smile slightly to herself as Sea Hawk confirmed her suspicions, only taking about half a second to brush his fingers through his hair in a half-hearted attempt to make himself look more presentable before stepping out the door, the princess following close behind. 

As they made their way down to the dining hall, they passed by a handful of healers, all of whom seemed unable to keep their eyes from scanning over Mermista. But, none of them actually said anything or made any attempt to bother her, so she kept quiet about her annoyance – though she had certainly rolled her eyes more than a few times during the short trek. 

As soon as they entered the dining hall they were accosted by a chef, who quickly asked them what they wanted to eat for their morning meal, before vanishing into the kitchens without another word. 

Normally Mermista would be quite irritated at someone getting up in her face like that, especially when it was still too early in the morning to really be awake, much less that enthusiastic; but the chef had come and gone so quickly that her still slightly sleep-addled brain barely had time to process the annoyance at the disregard to her personal space. 

That didn’t mean she wasn’t able to express irritation at something, however. 

“I didn’t think there could be anyone as annoyingly energetic as you this early in the morning,” she commented to Sea Hawk as they took a seat at the table, which already had drinks set upon it – though nothing as strong as what she was currently wishing she could have. 

Besides the main thing of finally being able to go back home and actually really do stuff again, one of the things she was most looking forward to when the baby was born was actually being able to have caffeine again. She had never been much of a morning person, but a cup (or two, on particularly bad mornings) of coffee did usually help to make her at least feel more awake when she didn’t have the option of sleeping in. 

If Sea Hawk took the insult to heart, he showed no sign of it, simply letting out a brief chuckle as she took a seat across from her. His amusement faded away as she winced, unable to stop herself from reacting as another pain cut through her body. 

“Not a word,” she warned as he looked ready to say something in regards to the pained look that she knew had crossed her face. Unlike when it happened in the bedroom, this time he didn’t listen to her warning. 

“Mermista-“ he started to say, only to get cut off when the chef suddenly stepped up to them, holding a plate of food in each hand. 

As he placed the plates in front of them, Mermista was torn between being irritated with the man for his overly cheery morning attitude (he was literally humming to himself as he gave them their breakfast, for Stars’ sake), and grateful for the fact that he’d put the conversation Sea Hawk obviously wanted to have on hold, at least for the next few moments. 

As soon as her plate was in front of her, the ruler of Salineas turned her attention to the food, barely glancing up at the man sitting across the table. 

She knew he was worried, and there was even a part of her that understood why; but at the same time, she still didn’t want to make a big deal out of whatever was going on…even if she did have the feeling she knew what was happening. 

But, she told herself, even if that was what the cramps meant – and she wasn’t even sure that they weren’t something else entirely – there still wasn’t any reason to get worked up about it, at least not yet. She may not have been an expert on the subject, but even she knew that these sorts of things took a long time; definitely long enough that she could have her day of being left alone before needing to let someone know what was happening. 

The rest of the meal passed in silence, though at one point, Sea Hawk did reach across the table to put one of his hands on hers. She didn’t stop him, and only gave him a brief glance before going back to eating.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hours had crept by slowly, and normally Mermista would have complained about that, but on a day like this, she was actually grateful. Considering this was the only day she’d have more or less to herself for the next week or so, she was not going to complain in the slightest about it feeling longer than it actually was. 

Though, that wasn’t to say she couldn’t complain about anything…

”Shit!” she cursed under her breath, her hands tightly clasping the towel she’d just grabbed from the rack.

How long had it been since the last one? She thought to herself as she tried to remember, thinking back to the last time she’d felt the pain slicing through her body. About five minutes, give or take, she realized with just a hint of dread, though she forced herself to avoid letting the fear show. 

The cramps had kept coming throughout the day, starting off as little more than slight annoyances that came about every fifteen minutes or so…but as the day went on, they started getting more intense, and coming closer and closer together. 

This last one had been particularly bad, bad enough that she hadn’t thought about trying to hide her reaction as the pain hit. 

“Are you certain you don’t want to see one of the healers?” Sea Hawk asked, his voice uncharacteristically unsure as he watched her from his spot near the door. “Just to be certain everything is alright, I mean?” 

Mermista took in a breath and let it out, straightening herself up, making sure the expression on her face showed absolutely no pain and definitely no hint of fear. 

“They’ll just say it’s something to be worried about, even if it isn’t,” she said. It dawned on a little too late that she probably could have chosen her wording better, if she didn’t want to worry him. She should’ve been a lot more confident; said that it definitely wasn’t anything to worry about, not bring up the possibility that it was. Well, too late to take it back now. 

“Never mind – let’s just go,” Mermista said with a shake of her head. She didn’t wait for him to say anything, and didn’t look to see his reaction; she just made her way out the door, doing her best to ignore the past few moments. 

There was a part of her mind that kept insisting that she should do what he suggested, and just have one of the healers take a look at her, just to be safe. And she would do that, soon, but not right now. 

She had been promised twelve hours of time to herself, and she hadn’t even gotten halfway to that point. 

As she walked, she felt another pain – a contraction, she thought to herself, no longer able to deny the truth as to what these pains really were, and what they meant – go through her. This one seemed to last longer than any of the ones before; all the previous ones had come and gone in the span of a few seconds, but this one lingered for several minutes. 

Mermista did her best to ignore it. If she ignored the pain, then she wouldn’t react to it, and there wouldn’t be any reason for Sea Hawk to worry and try to convince her to give up what precious little time of her free day she had left. 

Maybe she wouldn’t be able to get the full twelve hours she wanted, but she could at least make it to six; after that, she’d talk to one of the healers. That still meant she had about an hour and a half left, however, and she fully intended to take advantage of that time, even if it still wasn’t near enough. 

Right now, all she wanted was a few minutes to relax in the hot springs. Mostly because not only was she dealing with the contractions coming about every five minutes or so, but her back was seriously starting to hurt now; it’d been bothering her since she’d gotten up that morning, but she’d been able to ignore it up to this point. 

Now she just hoped that a few minutes of soaking in the hot water of Mystacor’s famous springs would be enough to soothe her aching muscles. She already had enough to deal with, considering the contractions and what she had the feeling was going to happen within the next few hours; she didn’t want to have to deal with back pain on top of all that. 

It took them about twenty minutes to get to the private springs that Glimmer’s aunt Castaspella had been generous enough to let them use during their stay. Mermista could not deny she was grateful for the privacy, especially right now.

Obviously she wasn’t embarrassed or anything – she wasn’t stupid enough to deny the fact that she had obviously gained weight and was noticeably bigger than she’d been a few months ago – but she did always enjoy her privacy.

Plus, the seclusion of the private springs gave her a bit of freedom that she couldn’t get in the area used by the majority of the residents and visitors to Mystacor. 

Specifically, there was the fact that she didn’t have to wear a swimsuit when using these particular pools to soak in; nobody would enter without getting permission first, so she didn’t have to worry about anyone barging in on her in the pool – not that she was ashamed of anything, but if there was any time she definitely wanted her privacy…

”You’re not getting in?” she asked Sea Hawk as she took off the robe she’d been wearing and set it upon the stone that had been carved into a makeshift table. 

The pirate was still wearing his usual outfit, minus the jacket which he’d left back in the room; no doubt he realized that wearing a jacket in a room full of hot water and steam probably wouldn’t be the smartest thing, even by his standards. 

She actually wasn’t sure what she expected his answer to be – after all, if anyone would be willing to get into a hot spring fully clothed, it was Sea Hawk. 

“Not at the moment, but maybe a little later,” he said with a shrug. His face took on a playful expression as he added, “Unless, of course, you’d like for me to join you?” 

Mermista frowned slightly, not out of affectionate annoyance like she usually did when he made suggestions like that, but out of concern; despite his obvious attempts to prove otherwise, she could tell he was still worried about her. 

Normally she’d make some sort of sarcastic comment in response, but now right, it just didn’t feel like the right thing to do. Instead, she sighed and turned to face him. 

“Look, I’ll tell someone soon, I promise,” she told him. In truth, she’d still rather hold off on telling anyone about what was happening for as long as she possibly could; but she was being sincere when she said that. “Just give me like ten minutes in here, and let me get dressed when we get back to the room.” 

He may have been trying to hide just how worried he was, but Sea Hawk visibly relaxed as Mermista made her promise. 

Mermista found herself smiling as well, just a little, before she eased herself into the steamy water of the hot spring. 

As she sunk lower into the water (until pretty much everything below her shoulders, save her knees and part of her swollen stomach were submerged), she couldn’t help but moan as the tension felt like it was literally seeping out of her muscles and into the water. 

She was so engrossed in the feeling that she didn’t notice Sea Hawk stepping behind her, until she felt his hands caressing her shoulders, causing her to moan again, though not quite as loudly as before. Her eyes opened a crack as she felt him kiss her cheek, all the while still massaging her shoulders. 

“Does the offer to join you still stand?” he questioned, giving her a look that was both flirty and playful. Mermista scoffed a little and rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t keep herself from smiling at the same time. 

The grin only grew when she saw Sea Hawk pout and mutter a halfhearted complaint before continuing to rub her shoulders, occasionally taking one hand off her shoulders to comb his fingers through her hair. They stayed that way for about the next ten minutes, at which point the princess – somewhat reluctantly, considering how comfortable she was – decided to exit the springs and return to her room. 

However, as she walked over to the table-like stone to quickly dry herself off and replace her robe, Mermista found herself seriously starting to regret leaving the water. Now that she was out, not only was she once again noticing the contractions – which were even more intense than they had been about ten minutes ago – but she was also uncomfortably aware of what she could only describe as a lot of pressure in her lower abdomen.

It didn’t hurt, exactly, but it also didn’t do anything to make her feel any better. 

Still, she did her best to not think too much about either of those as she quickly toweled herself off and put her robe back on, walking past Sea Hawk and out the door and towards their room without a single word. 

As she walked down the halls to the room, she felt a handful of contractions, the last of which was actually so intense that she found herself having to stop and brace herself against the wall, breathing heavily through gritted teeth as she waited for it to pass. 

“Mermista!” Sea Hawk cried, rushing over to her side and placing one hand on her elbow, while the other arm wrapped gingerly around her shoulders. “We need to get to a healer, and soon, I think.” 

There was no hint of his usual passion or bravado as he spoke, just a matter-of-fact tone, tinged with just a touch of dread, which she only noticed because she knew him so well. Mermista wanted to protest, wanted to insist that she was fine…but at this point, even she had to admit that Sea Hawk was right; she did need to see a healer, and very soon, it seemed. Still, there was one thing she needed to do before that could happen. 

“Just…let me get some clothes on,” she insisted, speaking through pants as she managed to catch her breath. 

She quickly made her way to her room, barely waiting for Sea Hawk to come in behind her before she slammed the door shut. Still breathing heavily, she stepped towards the bed, where she had lain out what she’d planned to wear after her visit to the springs, undoing her robe with slightly shaky hands as she walked. 

All she had to do was get dressed, and then they’d go find one of the healers that always seemed to be milling about the place; simple as – Mermista suddenly stopped short of the bed, a gasp of breath escaping from her as she felt a sudden release of pressure…accompanied by what felt like a rush of fluid from between her legs. 

Feeling a wave of dread wash over her, she looked down at her feet to confirm what she already knew to be true: her water had just broken. If there had been any way to deny that this baby was coming soon, it had just gotten tossed out the window. 

She didn’t even have to look at Sea Hawk to know he was looking at her with fear and concern. 

She did her best to keep herself calm as she took another step towards her bed, once again starting to feel the pressure in her lower body, now feeling like it was even lower than before…

”I need to sit down.”

If he said anything in response, she didn’t hear it; she just sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, panting as she felt another contraction hit. She breathed heavily through the pain…before a scream escaped from her mouth before she had time to cut it off by biting onto her clenched fist. 

“What’s wron-“ Sea Hawk’s voice caught in his throat and he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes going as wide as they could and his face draining of all color as he stared between her legs, seeming unable to look away. 

Despite herself, Mermista tried to remain calm, for her own sake as much as his. “I’m fine….” 

She took her fist out of her mouth, the slight sting caused by her teeth sinking into the skin of her hand nothing compared to the combination of pressure and a burning sensation that she could feel between her legs. 

“Dear…” Sea Hawk began, his voice quavering ever so slightly as he managed to wrench his eyes away to look at her, “I… think that’s the baby’s head…” 

Almost without thinking, Mermista found herself reaching between her legs as he said that – and sure enough, she let out a small gasp as she found he was right. 

“Oh…shit…” she muttered, taking a sharp breath as she felt another contraction course through her, the sensation made all the worse by the fact that she swore she felt the baby shift slightly as the pain made its way through her body. 

“Do…do you think you can move?” Sea Hawk’s voice was full of obvious concern as he looked at her. It was also fairly clear from the expression on his face that he already suspected what the answer would be; but Mermista decided it was at least worth determining for herself. 

Bracing her hands on either side, she tried to push herself off of the bed – only to find that the movement not only caused her a great deal of pain, but she swore she could feel the burning sensation all the more strongly as she tried to stand. 

Practically collapsing back onto the bed, hissing through her teeth in an attempt to mitigate the pain, she shook her head. She could have sworn she heard Sea Hawk swallow after she gave her answer. 

“Right…” His voice sounded strained and Mermista was somewhat surprised when she heard his footsteps, followed by the sound of a door opening and closing. 

Opening her eyes to see what the sound had been, she was a little surprised to see he was still in the room – she had assumed he’d gone to fetch the healers – and then felt her blood starting to boil when she spotted what he held in his hand. 

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!” Her voice cracked slightly as she screamed at him, staring at the bottle of vodka her boyfriend was holding onto. He opened his mouth to respond, but she didn’t give him the chance. 

“Are you seriously planning on getting fucking drunk right now?” she hissed, her voice full of venom as she glared at her boyfriend, who looked rather wounded for a split second. Or, at least, that was all she saw; if the look lasted any longer, she didn’t notice, considering almost immediately after she made the accusation, her eyes shut tightly as she felt another contraction, accompanied by what she now had the horrible suspicion was the baby slowly emerging from her body. 

She panted as she finally felt the contraction pass. As she caught her breath, she detected the unmistakable scent of alcohol, followed by the (for her) very recognizable smell of something burning. 

Considering who else was in the room with her, she wasn’t too surprised that something got set on fire; though that didn’t mean she wasn’t wondering why he decided now of all times was a good point to set something ablaze. 

Mermista opened her eyes to look at her boyfriend, planning on asking him exactly what he was doing – only to find him near the now open window, holding a drenched cloth in one hand. 

As she watched him set the cloth on fire and toss it out the window, she suddenly realized what he’d been doing with the vodka, and a twinge of guilt went through her mind. It didn’t last long, however, as about half a second later, she felt yet another contraction – and this one felt different from the others, and definitely not in a good way. 

“Sea Hawk…” she gasped, barely managing to speak through the intensity of the pain. “Get over here… _Now_.” 

The pirate rushed to her side, his feet barely seeming to touch the ground as he moved. 

“Don’t worry,” he told her – though it seemed just as likely that he was trying to reassure himself – as he started to gently stroke her cheek in what was an obvious attempt to be soothing. “I’m sure someone will be here soon.” 

He honestly sounded so hopeful that Mermista hated to burst his bubble…but she didn’t have a choice at this point. 

“This kid’s not going to wait that long…” she managed to say, before groaning as another pain hit her. 

The sound that came out of her boyfriend’s mouth was something between a squeak and a gasp. 

She almost felt bad for obviously making him freak out so much. But, not only did she have much more important things on her mind at the moment, but the next words that came out of his mouth made her go from feeling sorry for him, to kinda wanting to just smack him. 

“Are…are you sure you can’t wait just a few more minutes?” 

Mermista barely had time to look at him with eyes full of venom before she could feel the start of another contraction. As it began, she sucked in as much air as she could, before finally listening to the voice that had been screaming in the back of her mind for the past several minutes, and pushing with as much strength as she could muster. 

She tried to keep from screaming, despite the intensity of the pain – she knew that it wouldn’t do her much good, anyway. However, as she felt the child slowly emerge from her body, she couldn’t help but let out a low groan and slowly gave way to a brief scream of pain. 

When the pain finally passed, she allowed her muscles to relax, her body trembling slightly as she caught her breath, trying to prepare herself for when the next one would hit. She could feel the warm wetness of tears behind her eyelids; she ignored it, focused instead on what she knew was more important at the moment. 

She opened her eyes briefly to see Sea Hawk on his knees in front of her, looking undeniably terrified and freaked out as he looked like he was preparing to catch something; which, she quickly realized, he was. 

Her hands clenched the bedding tightly as she bore down once again, this time not even bothering to try and keep quiet, though she did avoid actually screaming this time. 

The tears that had formed behind her eyelids managed to spill out, but this was one situation where she honestly couldn’t care less about being seen crying. Especially considering the only other person in the room was also one of the few people who she’d actually been willing to let see her cry since before she’d been left to rule and defend a crumbling kingdom while she was still a teenager. 

She could have sworn she heard him say something along the lines of “Stars…” to himself, but at this point, it felt like she barely had time to breathe between each contraction, much less think about what he was saying. 

The next couple of moments passed in a sort of fog, with her pushing during each contraction, and breathing heavily to catch her breath between each wave of pain. 

Until she finally felt what she could only describe as a sort of…release of the pressure, followed almost immediately by a throbbing sensation – which she was only vaguely aware of as she heard Sea Hawk let out a noise that sounded like some combination of a laugh and a gasp, followed closely by him calling her name. 

“Mermista…look at her.” His voice was the quietest she’d ever heard it, just barely above a whisper, and positively dripping with amazement. 

Still breathing heavily, she opened her eyes to see that he was indeed cradling a small, wriggling, and somewhat messy baby girl in his hands. His grip seemed a little awkward (understandably so), but Mermista had never remembered him being as cautious and gentle as he was at that moment. 

“Give her to me,” Mermista said, holding out her arms for the baby. 

Sea Hawk nodded, still smiling as he carefully maneuvered to place the newborn in his girlfriend’s arms. As soon as the baby was in her arms, Mermista held her close. 

She was vaguely aware of Sea Hawk walking away, but didn’t pay much attention to where he was going; right now, the only thing she was focused on was her baby. The baby let out a shuddery whimper. 

“Yeah…it couldn’t have been much fun for you, either,” Mermista muttered with a tired smile as she rubbed the newborn’s back gently; which did seem to actually soothe her a little, as her whimpers seemed to die down a little, though she continued to make small snuffling noises as she squirmed against her mother’s body. 

“Here you go.” Mermista looked up with a bit of surprise at the sound of Sea Hawk’s voice – and that surprise only grew when she saw him holding his jacket out to her. Her eyebrow cocked slightly in a silent question as she looked up at him. 

“I thought it might be good to get her warmed up,” he explained, still holding the jacket out to her. 

“…You do realize what she’s covered in, right?” Mermista asked, eyebrow still raised, though a smile did tug on her lips, especially when the only response she got was a nod. 

Seeming to take that as approval, the pirate carefully moved the newborn out of the princess’s arms and into his own – getting a soft cry of protest in return for his efforts, which quieted down as he gently wrapped her up in his jacket. It didn’t look particularly neat, but it did the job it needed to do. 

Suddenly, the door to the room opened up, startling the baby enough that she started to wail once more, while her parents looked up to see a small handful of healers in the doorway, including the woman Mermista had talked to that very morning. 

The healers looked at them, and upon seeing the newborn cradled in Sea Hawk’s arms, just glanced at one another for a moment in silence before getting to work. One went over to Sea Hawk, holding out her arms for the baby, while the others turned their attention to Mermista.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

“She is the most amazing, beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Sea Hawk marveled as he watched his newborn daughter nursing, the baby much more interested in her meal than what her father was saying, it seemed. 

“You do realize that makes you sound really conceited, right?” Mermista asked, though her tone did not match her words in the slightest, and she was smiling even as she said them. When he looked at her with a confused look, she decided to clarify. “She looks just like you.” 

That may have been a bit of an exaggeration, but even at only just over an hour old, it was very clear to the princess of Salineas that her daughter definitely favored her father when it came to her looks. The child had her eyes and maybe the shape of her ears, but that seemed to be all that she inherited from Mermista in that regard. Even the small patch of hair on her head, while it did appear to curl up slightly at the ends, was practically an identical shade to the pirate’s own locks. 

As though in agreement, the baby stopped feeding right then, letting out a small grunt. 

While Mermista adjusted her top to cover herself up – even if the only people in the room were herself, Sea Hawk, and their baby, she still had standards – Sea Hawk just let out a thoughtful-sounding noise; apparently he really hadn’t noticed the similarities between himself and his daughter. Not that it seemed like it mattered, based on how he was looking at her. 

“Well, I may have spoken a little too quickly when I said she was _the_ most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he admitted as he gingerly stroked the baby’s cheek with his finger. “Though she is definitely one of them for sure.” 

He gave Mermista a look that made it very clear what he was referring to, and she rolled her eyes as she felt her cheeks begin to warm up slightly.

“Are you trying to embarrass me?” she groaned, but she couldn’t keep herself from smiling when he leaned down to kiss her cheek as he carefully took the newborn from her. Sea Hawk just gave her a sort of playful smile and a shrug in response, before turning his attention to the bundle in his arms. 

“And you better be happy with a girl, because I am not going through all of this stuff a second time,” she told him. 

She wasn’t kidding, either. Sure, if anyone had asked, she would definitely say that her daughter had definitely been worth the months of discomfort and boredom, punctuated by the much more recent pain. But that didn’t mean she was willing to go through all of that again; once was definitely enough for her. 

If Sea Hawk was at all bothered by this proclamation, there was no indication of it. Instead, he just cooed at the baby, who honestly seemed rather uninterested by the attention, but she also seemed content enough, so Mermista saw no need to stop it. 

“Then I guess that just makes this little treasure all the more precious,” he said, smiling down at the baby, who let out a squeaky yawn as she squirmed slightly in the blanket she was swaddled in. He gently tapped her nose with the tip of his finger. “Isn’t that right, my darling little Pearl?” 

“Did you just call her Pearl?” Mermista was more curious than anything else at the sound of the name; they’d occasionally discussed names for the baby during her pregnancy, but they hadn’t come to any sort of real decision up to this point. In their defense, they had expected to have another week to think about it. 

Sea Hawk blushed, just a little, at the question. 

“Well, yes,” he admitted, briefly looking down at the baby again before facing her. “It just came to mind, and I thought it suited her. But, if you don’t like it-“ 

“No, I like it.” She smiled at the baby, now sleeping soundly in the captain’s arms, as she added, “And you’re right – it really does fit her.”

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone is wondering about how little time passed between Mermista's water breaking and the baby actually being born, I actually did some research and while it doesn't always happen, it is actually possible for a woman to go through most of labor without her water breaking on its own, and even possible for the baby to be born without it breaking at all.
> 
> And, yeah, Mermista had a pretty quick birth, especially for her first child. Obviously there's not hard and fast "rule", but on average, the first birth does tend to take quite a while from when the mother starts having real contractions (as opposed to things like Braxton-Hicks) to when the baby is actually born. Little Pearl here was born after around five hours, by comparison. 
> 
> Bit of liberty taken with Mermista using the hot spring - probably not a great idea to do that while pregnant, but I'm going to say that the springs at Mystacor are likely, well, mystical and therefore perfectly safe. Though you probably still wouldn't wanna stay in them for a super long time.


End file.
